Tangled in Truth
by scribblesofdreams
Summary: Seth isn't thrilled about another school year, but his view of school changes when he meets a new student that just moved into town. She seems like the best thing that's happened to him, but she holds a secret she can't tell him...not just yet.
1. Introduction

Introduction

Disclaimer: I own nothing having to do with The Pacifier or related issues. (I also don't own already published things that might be mentioned in this fanfic as well, i.e.: music, games, movies, songs, TV shows, brands, etc.)

So this is how my story goes down…

-This is about a two years or so after the movie takes place. Shane and Claire are together, and they're plan on getting married someday. Zoe's starting college, Seth is continuing acting and also starting his junior year of high school, and Lulu is starting the seventh grade.

-I'm not sure, but I think the school name in the movie read Chesapeake Heights Public School C.H. or C.H.P.S. for short (I haven't watched it in a while, I should though). So that's what the school name is, as well as their community/town, shopping centers, etc.

-Shane took over the local theatre for the remainder of the year in which the movie took place. As it was implied in the film, he took over the wrestling team. This school year however, I'm planning it that Shane is part-time director of the local theatre and wrestling coach, since he's now taken the full-time role as drama teacher.

-This might be weird, even confusing, but I'm going to be writing the adults in this film by their first names, except for teachers at school. So, it'll be Julie, Claire, and Shane for the adults already introduced in the movie. Also the new characters parents. But teachers are called by Mr., Mrs., or Ms.

-The drama room, where the theatre class is, it's underneath the auditorium. And the auditorium is in a separate building than the actual school building, so when they go to and from the class, they need to leave the main high school building. (I hope it makes sense and you can picture it)

-The new student, Mahea, was born in Hawaii, but has been moving around with her family. She ends up at Chesapeake Heights Public School, and takes an interest in acting.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The first day of school has always been a pain for mom's everywhere. But this year was different. Tyler was finally in Preschool, Peter was excited about going into the first grade, Lulu was nervous about entering the seventh grade, and Seth, as usual wasn't thrilled about another year of teachers thinking up ways to torture their students with work. Zoe had graduated high school the previous year, and was going to a community college, which didn't start for another week.

"C'mon you guys we gotta go!" Julie yelled from the kitchen. She was getting Peter's backpack ready as well as getting Tyler ready for breakfast. "I said let's go!" She yelled once more.

Lulu strolled down the stairs into the kitchen. She was wearing a new skirt and top with her hair down. "I don't wanna go to school." She said gloomily, slumping into her seat.

Julie tried to get Tyler to eat his cereal. "Why not honey, you'll do fine."

"Why couldn't I just stay in elementary school?" She asked, not really searching for an answer.

"Oh, you'll love it." Julie smiled. "Seth! Let's go!" She screamed, and soon enough a tall, blond boy came down the stairs.

Julie made Lulu and Seth a bowl of cereal. "So, you ready for your junior year?" She asked him, setting his bowl in front of him.

Seth looked at his mom and back down to his bowl. "Am I ever ready for school?" He mumbled.

"Seth, maybe if you thought positively about school, it'd go better." Julie said, Zoe then came downstairs, still in her night clothes.

"Or maybe if you stopped wearing all those weird clothes, people would like you more." Zoe commented, going into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee.

Seth was wearing dark blue jeans, a solid black t-shirt, with a black zipper down jacket over that. His black and white All-Star Converse shoes peaked out from the bottom of his jeans, his blond hair hiding underneath a grey beanie, and you could see his headphones wrapped around his neck.

Julie looked at Zoe. "Zoe, don't start." She said, going back to cleaning up Tyler.

"What's wrong with the way I dress huh?" Seth questioned.

"Because-" Zoe was cut off by her mother, staring at her again.

"Okay guys, let's go." She said, as everyone rushed to eat their breakfast and headed out to the van.

Julie took Tyler and Peter's hand. "Now Zoe, can you wash the dishes?" She asked, Zoe nodded. "And vacuum the living room?"

"Yes mom." Zoe answered, a bit annoyed.

"Okay, okay, we're going." Julie said, and hustled everyone into the van. "Bye sweetie." She said to Zoe, getting into the driver's seat.

"Bye mom. Bye guys, have fun at school." She said, waving goodbye to Tyler and Peter. "You'll do fine Lulu."

Lulu smiled. "Bye Zoe."

Zoe looked to Seth, who stared back. "And well…"

"Yeah, I know. See ya." He said to her, and the van pulled out of the driveway, leaving Zoe there alone.

"Bye Lulu! You'll do fine!" Julie called from the van.

"Bye mom! Bye Seth!" She got out of the car first and waved to the two of them, Seth starting to unbuckle himself. She turned around and looked at all the students gathering on the school lawn. She'd just been there a few months ago, but now she was in seventh grade, a completely different world. "Well, here goes nothing." She said to herself, then headed into the school building to find her locker.

"Now Seth, you come straight home after school, okay?" Julie said as Seth got out of the car.

"Mom, I have nowhere else to go." He told her.

Julie sighed. "Well, just have a good day, okay Seth." She tried to sound encouraging.

"Bye mom." He waved goodbye and turned around and started walking away from the van. Julie watched Seth walk off, then went to park the van to take Peter to his class.

Seth made his way into the school building and went to look for his locker.

"355." He said to himself, and took out his combination lock from his pocket. He took off his backpack and found a folder with pictures and stickers he put in them. "Yes." He started putting up his pictures and stickers in his locker, when it was suddenly shut closed by someone.

"Hey Creeper." It was Troy, now a senior, and captain of the football and wrestling team.

Seth rolled his eyes and put his things in his bag. "What do you want?" He muttered, putting his lock on the locker.

"Nothin'. Just patrolling the halls, getting rid of some trash we find along the way." He smirked.

"Yeah, man," Sean, Troy's dummy chimed in. "So that means you gotta leave!" He laughed, Troy smirking some more.

Seth sighed. "Whatever." He turned to walk away, but Troy grabbed his shoulder.

"Don't get in my way this year Creeper, ya hear me." He growled. Seth looked at Troy and pulled his shoulder out of his grasp and walked off.

"So, Shane and I will be here if you need anything." Claire said. A young, averaged height girl with dark brown, practically black hair sat in the chair across from Claire.

"So if you're in any trouble, or you find anything, just let us know Mahea." Shane nodded.

"Okay, got it." Mahea answered. She sat there, sitting up straight, trying to smile. "I think I'll do okay." She got up to leave.

On her way to her homeroom, she turned a corner and bumped into someone. "Oh, I'm so sorry." She said immediately, taking a few steps back from the impact.

"No, I wasn't looking, sorry." She heard a voice say back to her.

Mahea rubbed her shoulder, and looked up, to see a pleasant looking boy rubbing his arm, staring at her. "Sorry." She said again.

Seth took a few seconds to look at her. He noticed she was wearing the same shoes he was, along with loose khaki capri's and a dark blue t-shirt that read "Sorry, I stopped listening days ago…" on it. Her hair was pulled back into a half up half down style, making her face look clean and pretty.

"I'm Seth." He said, letting go of his arm.

"My name's Mahea." She smiled.

Seth, still being uncomfortable around girls, not that he's ever really been around girls, had no idea what to say. So he just stood there, looking at her.

Mahea looked around the halls and saw that most people were already heading off to their homeroom. "Well, I better go. I don't wanna be late to homeroom my first day." She chuckled. "Maybe I'll see ya around." She smiled, and started to walk off.

Seth nodded, "Yeah." He watched her walk away and smiled to himself, then remembered what he was doing in the first place.

"Hi Seth." Claire said as Seth walked into her office.

"Shouldn't drama teachers be in the drama room once school starts?" Seth asked Shane, grinning.

Shane raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't students be in homeroom when school starts?" He retorted.

Seth smiled. "Yeah I know. But I wanted to know if you chose which productions we're gonna do this year." He said, looking at Shane.

Shane shook his head. "Not yet." He answered, as Seth dropped his shoulders, disappointed. "But I have a while to pick which ones. Don't worry, you'll get first dibs on roles." He smiled, playfully punching Seth's arm.

"Cool. See you guys later." Seth said, reaching for the doorknob. "Good luck this year." He said, looking at both Claire and Shane.

"Thanks." They answered in unison, then Seth stepped out of the room and headed off to his homeroom.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Seth made it just in time to his homeroom. He sat down in his seat quickly and looked around the room to see who was there. He saw a few boys on the track and basketball team huddle in one corner of the room. Near the front were two girls talking about how great their trips to Europe were. In front of him were a couple kids falling asleep. He looked at the rest of his classmates and didn't see anyone he'd waste a minute talking to, so he sat there and waited to go to first period.

His first class was U.S. History, not his favorite subject, but he sat through it. He knew one person in that class, Reggie. Reggie had joined last year's drama production of _Pippin_ that Seth was also in. Seth sat next to Reggie so he'd have someone to talk to throughout the year.

"Has Shane chosen what we're gonna do this year?" Reggie leaned over his desk to ask Seth.

Seth shook his head. "Nope, not yet. But he said he'll do it soon." Seth replied.

Seth's second class was Algebra II. Seth wasn't a big fan of math, so he knew this class would be a bore for the whole year. He knew a few people from some of his classes last year, but not well enough to sit by them, so he took a seat in the back row and hoped his teacher didn't have assigned seats.

"Man, this is gonna be a long day." Seth said to himself, putting his U.S. History and math textbooks into his locker. He walked over to his Physics class and took a seat in the third row near the window. Most of the students were already making their way to open seats, conveniently not taking a seat next to Seth. He put his head down on his table and waited for the bell to ring.

"Okay class, let's get settled." Mrs. Parker got everyone's attention. "We have a new student to C.H." She announced. "This is Maheya Akahnah. Did I say that correctly?" She turned to Mahea who was smiling.

"Um, it's Mahea Akana." She pronounced correctly. As Seth heard her voice, his head shot up from his table.

Mrs. Parker smiled. "Well Mahea I hope you enjoy Chesapeake Heights. You can take a seat right there." Mrs. Parker gestured to the only open seat in the classroom.

"Thank you." Mahea replied, and made her way to her seat. She took her bag off and saw Seth looking at her. "Hey stranger." She said to him, smiling.

"Uh, hey." He said nervously.

"Okay, I'd like to do attendance first." Mrs. Parker said and began calling out the students names. After she got up and began to pass out papers to the people in the front row.

"This is your course syllabus for Physics, and I'd like to go over a few things." The students started to pass back the papers to the people behind them. Mrs. Parker read through certain parts of the syllabus.

"Okay, I'm going to call each of you up to get your textbook." She got her roll-call list and started calling the students by last name up to her desk to get a textbook. "Write your names and the year on the inside cover." She said after she called Mahea up.

The rest of the period was used to go over class rules and safety. She explained about the different labs they'd be doing, due dates, where to look for your homework each day and other classroom things.

"Okay guys, have your textbook covered by Wednesday. And remember tomorrow sit in a seat you'll be sitting in for the whole semester, and we're also picking lab partners tomorrow. Have a great day." She said as the students filed out of her classroom.

"So, you wanna sit with me at lunch?" Seth asked Mahea as they walked out of the classroom.

Mahea smiled. "Sure, I'll look for you." She replied, Seth smiled. "I'll see you at lunch then. Bye." She waved goodbye and headed off to her next class.

"Bye." Seth said to Mahea and watched her walk down the hall.

Mahea sat through her French 3 class listening to her teacher go over classroom rules, hand out textbooks, and immediately crack open the book and get to work. Sam took out a notebook and started to take notes on the section, and other things the teacher was going over. When class was over she walked out the door and followed the herd of students going to lunch. She looked at all the other students. Common high school students, nothing strange about them.

Mahea walked into the cafeteria to see it filled with students at every table. She got in the lunch line and got a hamburger, pudding, and water. She looked around for Seth, but didn't see him, until she heard someone call her from behind.

"Oh, hey Seth." She smiled, as Seth walked up to her.

"Here, follow me." He said, motioning to a table at the other end of the cafeteria. "Hey guys." He and Mahea sat down at a table where two boys and a girl were already sitting at. "This is Mahea, she's new to C.H."

"Hi guys." Mahea smiled.

"This is Reggie, Dylan, and Clarissa." Seth introduced them. The three of them said hi to Mahea, welcoming her to Chesapeake Heights.

"So, you just moved here? From where?" Dylan asked her, opening his soda.

"Well, I used to live in Hawaii. But we moved when I was ten, and kept moving to other places after that." She told them.

Clarissa gasped. "Wow, Hawaii, that's awesome!"

Reggie smiled. "Yeah, I'd love to go to Hawaii."

"It's cool growing up in Hawaii. I loved it there, it's the best." Mahea exclaimed, taking a bite of her hamburger.

"How come you had to move?" Seth asked her.

Mahea shifted uneasily in her seat. "Um, well…" She stalled. "My dad's work, it moved him around a lot." She told them.

Reggie nodded. "My cousin's are like that. My uncle's in the army, so he's all over the place." He shared. "But living in Hawaii must've been great."

"Yeah," Seth commented, looking at Mahea. "I bet there were a lot of pretty eyes – I mean pretty beaches." He said, embarrassed, his cheeks getting red. Dylan and Reggie chuckled softly and Clarissa smiled.

Mahea smiled and nodded. "Yeah, the beaches are great." She looked at Seth who wasn't looking at her anymore.

Mahea answered all their questions about Hawaii and moving around with her family. After that comment Seth had made, he barely said anything else the whole lunch period. After lunch, they all hung out in the courtyard before the warning bell rang to start the next period rang. Dylan and Clarissa went off to their next class, and Reggie headed off on his own.

"So I'll see you later?" Seth asked, finally confidant that he won't say anything stupid to her.

Mahea nodded. "Definitely." They said goodbye and walked to their separate classes. There were only two more classes left until the day was done, and even though Seth had that run-in with Troy, his day wasn't as bad as he thought it'd be. Meeting Mahea made it a whole lot better.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

With his last class being Theatre Performance, Seth knew that his first day would come to a good ending. The drama class had moved from last year, since they redid their auditorium. The drama class was now a classroom with a small stage in the room underneath the auditorium. He walked down the stairs that led to the classroom and found Shane waiting to greet everyone when they walked in the door. A circle was set up in the middle of the room and Seth took a seat in a chair and took his backpack off. He saw Reggie and Clarissa walk in and take seats on both sides of him. Dylan also came in with other students who were also in theatre that Seth remembered from last year. Seth felt that this was his true calling, that he felt at home when he was with people who accepted him.

There were a few extra seats still open when the bell rang. Shane walked over to the circle and took a seat. He was about to open his mouth when the door opened and someone walked in. Everyone turned around to see who it was.

"Sorry Shane, I got held back in my last class." She said quietly, walking up to Shane who stood up.

Shane shook his head and smiled. "That's okay Mahea, just take a seat over there." He gestured to a seat two over from his.

Seth couldn't believe it was Mahea. He stared at her and watched her sit down. She saw him and waved, he slowly waved back.

"Okay, well most of you are returning to theatre from last year." Shane said to everyone. "But this year we have a new thespian, Mahea Akana." He gestured to Mahea, who waved to the class. "First I'd like to do a warm-up activity. So, let's make two circles of ten in each." Shane said, encouraging people to get up and move around. Slowly the students got into two separate circles, one inside the other.

"Okay, now I'm gonna play music, and when it stops, each pair has to say something positive about the other person, okay?" He walked over to his c.d. player. "Let's go." He said, and the music started.

It was a game kind of like musical chairs, except without people racing to chairs. When they heard the music stop, they stopped as well, and faced their partners.

"Okay, let's start with Dylan." Shane announced, walking to the two circles of students.

Dylan looked at his partner who was a sophomore, Julie. "Umm, Julie, you have a really good singing voice." Dylan said.

Julie smiled. "Thanks Dylan." She cleared her throat. "And Dylan, you have nice cheekbones for a guy." She chuckled as other students did so as well.

Dylan raised one eyebrow. "Uh, thanks, I think."

Shane had every pair say something about each other, then once the first round was over, he started the music again and the circles began to move. They went through their second round, and Mahea was paired up with Clarissa, someone she actually knew in class.

"Okay guys." Shane said loudly. "We have time for one last round." He walked over to the c.d. player. "And go." The two circles started to move and soon the music stopped. Seth, laughing and having fun with everyone else didn't notice who his partner was until several moments after the music stopped. He looked to see Mahea standing in front of him, smiling.

Seth waited until it was his turn to say something about Mahea. Until that time, he was thinking of something nice to say, something that wouldn't make him sound stupid.

"Okay, Seth and Mahea." Shane announced. Everyone turned to them and waited. "Seth?" Shane volunteered Seth to go first.

Seth cleared his throat. "Uh, Mahea…" He paused, thinking of something to say. "You have a nice name, and a nice smile." He said, his voice cracking slightly.

Mahea smiled. "Thanks." She looked at Seth then tilted her head slightly. "Seth, you have an awesome sense of style, I love our clothes and your beanie." She said. She looked closer to see some of his blond hair sticking out from under his beanie. "And it looks like you have really nice blond hair too." She smiled.

"Thanks." He answered, slightly blushing.

Two more pairs finished just before the bell rang to end class. Everyone walked to their seats and gathered their belongings up.

"Okay guys. I'll see you tomorrow." Shane said as some students filed out the door. Shane walked over to where Mahea was standing. "Mahea, can I talk to you?" He asked.

She nodded. "Sure."

Shane saw Seth and his friends leaving the room. "See you guys."

"Bye Shane." They replied.

Seth uncomfortably waved to Shane. "See ya Shane." He looked at Mahea and wondered why she was staying in class, but he waved to her too. "Bye Mahea." He smiled slightly, and without looking, walked right into the wall.

Mahea smiled and chuckled a little. "Bye Seth." She watched Seth quickly stumble out the doorway then went into Shane's small office.

"_That was so dumb_!" Seth thought to himself. "_But why was she gonna talk to Shane? And how did he know her name when she came in late?" _He wondered_. " It's probably nothing._" He decided, catching up to his friends who were in front of him.

"Anything happen today?" Shane asked Mahea, somewhat concerned.

Mahea shook her head. "Nope, nothing but the ordinary." She told him. "But I've got my eyes open." She smirked.

Shane smiled. "So, was it a good day?" He asked, Mahea nodded. "I guess you've made some friends?" He smiled.

"Yeah, Dylan, Clarissa, Reggie…and Seth." She smiled.

Shane nodded, smiling. "Mmhmm." He looked at Mahea who was still smiling. "Well," He broke the short moment of silence. "You better get going." He told her.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." She said and headed out of his office and out the door.

"So you coming with us to Tony's?" Dylan asked Seth as they walked off the school campus.

Seth shook his head. "Sorry guys, I gotta get home." He told them. "Maybe later. See you guys." He waved goodbye and started to walk home. It was somewhat of a long way home, but he didn't really mind walking home that day. He had a lot to think about on his walk home. He took out his mini iPod and put his headphones on. In the midst of his music, he began to think about his day.

"_Today was…_" He thought. "_Fun. I thought school was gonna be a pain, but it wasn't. I guess my classes are okay, nothing seriously hard or anything. At least I'm back in theatre, that's like the only thing I look forward to. But…Mahea…she's so cool. I mean, she's like the only girl that's ever complimented me. On my clothes even_." He smiled to himself. "_Mahea's cool. I think it'll be a good year_."

Mahea was picked up by her older brother Kahi, who hadn't started college yet. He was three years older than Mahea, and going to start his sophomore year of college. They got home in time to help out with dinner. Both Kahi and Mahea's mom, Sheryl wanted to know how Mahea's first day of school went, but she wanted to wait until her dad got home to tell all of them, so she wouldn't have to repeat herself. Her dad came home, and they all sat down to have dinner.

"So? What happened?" Mr. Akana, or Terry asked.

"Well, it went pretty good." Mahea told all of them. "My classes are okay. I think my hardest is probably calculus, I just don't like math."

Kahi nodded. "Man, I know what you mean."

"Did you meet Principle Fletcher?" Tracey asked her, taking a bite of his chicken. "How'd that go?"

"It went okay." She said in between eating. "They seem cool. I think everything will be fine." She reassured them as they all nodded.

Sheryl took a sip of water. "Meet any new friends?" She asked curiously.

Mahea nodded. "Yeah. Umm, there's a few from some of my classes. Then there's Reggie, Clarissa, Dylan." She paused and smiled. "And Seth." She told them. "They're all in my theatre class. They're really cool." She told them basically everything that went on today.

Each class she had, her teachers, even down to the multiple times she had to say her name correctly. Her family was happy that she had a good first day at Chesapeake Heights. Kahi and Mahea did the dishes, then Mahea got some forms her parents had to sign and went up to her room to find all the school supplies she needed for the next day.

Mahea felt that it was a good start to the school year, and hopefully nothing too intense would go on. She was especially excited about her theatre class. She couldn't wait to get started on a play, and she also wanted to get to know everyone in her class. She could only hope for the best of the school year, and try to get through it one day at a time.


	5. Chapter 4

Oh my goodness! It's like I've been gone for years! Okay, I haven't updated my story in months due to the lack of internet access. It's completely lame and I'm stuck without it for who knows how long. So, I'm trying to see if this is going to work. If it does, this will be one of the few updates I'll make until I get the internet back. I hope I get it back soon, because I know you guys have been waiting for the next chapters. So, hopefully this works and you have something to read for a while. Thanks for being so patient everyone! Peace.

-goodfortune14

* * *

Chapter 4

The second day of school always seemed to be worse than the first. Everyone was too excited about seeing their friends, and finding who was in their classes to really realize that another school year was starting. It wasn't until the second day of school that everyone felt that the school year was now in motion. Troy also didn't delay in his usual underclassmen tortures; starting out his morning by once again, bothering Seth.

"Such idiots." Seth muttered, walking away from his locker, Troy, Sean, and a few other members of the wrestling team stood near Seth's locker, watching him walk away. They had pushed Seth out of their way and dumped everything Seth had in is locker onto the hallway floor. Seth just couldn't find a way to make them stop picking on him, but he didn't want to deal with them the whole year.

Seth went through his first couple of classes, not really paying any attention to what was going on. He sat next to Mahea in physics when he got in the class. Mrs. Parker quickly got the class settled when the bell rang and took the attendance.

"So I assume this is where you've all decided to sit." She said to the class. "Then if you can, fill in this seating chart as it comes around." She passed the seating chart to the student nearest to her desk in the front of the room. As the seating chart went around, she checked off the few students who already had their books covered.

"Wow, that's awesome." Mahea said to Seth, leaning over to see him drawing on his textbook.

Seth was sketching out several music bands' names on the back of his book. He looked up and smiled at her. "Thanks." He replied. "You into this kinda music too?" He asked.

She nodded. "Oh yeah. I actually like a lot of different kinds of music. But mostly classic rock, 80's rock, alternative rock and pop, stuff like that." She told him.

"Me too." Seth said.

"But sometimes I can't help listening to a bunch of other music too. Oldies, ballads, 70's stuff, I grew up with lots of different kinds of music with my parents." She said.

"My parents were kinda boring when it came to music." He told her.

Mahea shrugged. "All parents are boring in something or another."

"Yeah, I know. But now it's only my mom who's boring." He said, his tone of voice changing. "My dad was killed a while ago." He told her.

Mahea nodded, looking at her feet. "I'm sorry to hear that." She replied. "I know what it's like to lose someone close." Seth looked up at her. "It was my grandpa, years ago." She said. "I mean, I know grandparents pass away and all, but I was really close to him. He taught me all sorts of things. It was just so sad when he died."

After everyone filled out the seating chart, she instructed the class to go to a lab table and pick a partner. Everyone quickly raced to the tables.

"You wanna be my partner?" Mahea asked, standing up.

Seth looked up at her and smiled back. "Sure." He replied, relived she asked him, since he didn't know how to ask her. They found the last remaining lab table, since everyone was already paired off and comfortably sitting on the stools at their lab tables.

Mrs. Parker had her students stay at their lab tables for the rest of the class since she went more in detail about their labs and the lab safety rules.

Lunch was just as busy as the day before. Mahea had stopped off at Claire's office before she went to lunch to let her know school was going okay so far. She quickly got her lunch once she got to the cafeteria and went to sit at Seth's table. They all started telling Mahea about the do's and don'ts at Chesapeake Heights, when a boy had been knocked into their table by Troy, making him drop his tray on Mahea's.

"Aww man, I'm so sorry." The boy said, getting to his feat quickly.

The initial surprise of the collision didn't hit Mahea until a few moments after it happened. Her tray with all her food was now covered by another tray of food.

"Oh no, it's okay." She turned to see Troy, the senior Reggie and Seth told her about, laughing in their direction. "It wasn't your fault." She picked up the empty plate and fork that fell next to her feet and placed it on his tray. That's when she looked up to see dark haired boy, with dark brown eyes and wavy hair looking at her. His shirt fit well on his body, his backpack fell nicely off his broad shoulders, and his long legs fit perfectly in his long black jeans.

"Sorry about that." He said, dusting off his jeans.

"No problem." She said softly, still looking at him. Everyone on the table, especially Seth noticed the look in Mahea's eyes as she looked at this boy. "You okay?" She asked him.

"Yeah." He answered, then finally looked at her. He looked up her and down, then smiled. "Uh, I'm Damien." He introduced himself, still smiling at her.

"I'm Mahea." She answered.

To break this awkward moment, Clarissa shifted in her seat. "You new around here?" She asked bluntly.

He lifted his head and looked at Clarissa. "Yeah, it's my first year here." He told them. "And I guess that was the welcoming committee or something." He said, making Mahea chuckle softly. He smiled at her, then said, "Well, I better get going." He picked up tray. "See ya."

"Bye." Mahea replied and watched him walk off. Seth looked at Mahea and then switched to Damien who was walking towards a trash can.

"That was weird." Dylan commented. Everyone seemed to go back to their lunch and their conversation.

Seth looked to see Damien turn around and glance one more time at Mahea before he walked out of the cafeteria. Seth didn't know why, but he already didn't like this Damien, even though he didn't know who he was. For some reason, he didn't like it when Damien smiled at Mahea that way.

In Theatre Performance, Shane had yet another 'ice breaker' game that took the whole class period to do. Each student had to write one famous person down on a piece of paper. Then three other classmates picked a paper, and tried to give hints to the person in the 'spotlight' about who they were.

"Wait, isn't this a game, wait, I saw it somewhere…" Dylan said before the game started.

Shane nodded and smiled. "So I might've taken this from _Whose Line Is It Anyway_." He confessed as a few laughs went around the room. "But it's still a good game."

Keith, a senior was first in the 'spotlight' and Julie, Mahea, and Reggie were his 'helpers' to help him find out who he was.

"So, does your top hat actually add to your height? Or are you actually that tall?" Reggie asked, emphasizing the word 'height'.

"Uh, no, the hat doesn't add to my height." Keith answered, thinking about what Reggie said.

"But what about your honesty? I mean, you must be really honest about everything, right?" Julie questioned.

Keith shrugged. "I guess so." Still trying to decipher these clues.

Mahea smiled, knowing he'd get it after she asked him this question. "And you like theatre right? You loved going with your wife to the theatre, didn't you? Watching from high above in the box seats?" She hinted.

Keith nodded his head. "Oh yeah, I love theatre, and my tall hat, and I'm real honest, since they now say "Honest Abe" after me, Abraham Lincoln." He smiled. The class clapped for the four students who stepped off the small stage, then a next set of students went up on the stage. The game went on for several rounds until the bell rang to end class.

Wednesday was just as the one before, the school mode finally kicking in. Seth, Mahea, Reggie, Dylan and Clarissa all met at the benches under a tree near the school entrance in the morning before going to their homeroom. Mahea told them she had to leave early to go to her locker, and Seth went along with her.

Mahea was closing her locker when she noticed someone standing next to her. She looked up and saw Troy, Sean, and a freshman, Cory, who was on the wrestling team.

"Well, I never was really into younger girls, but I think you'll be an exception." Troy said to Mahea, looking her up and down, grinning.

"Excuse me?" She asked sternly, not finding it as amusing as Sean and Cory were.

Troy smirked. "Maybe you might wanna hang out sometime."

Mahea raised one eyebrow at him. "No thanks." She answered.

"Oh c'mon, I can be a whole lot of fun." Troy said, gently touching Mahea's cheek, then she quickly slapped his hand away.

"Hey man, just leave us alone." Seth said, stepping in front of Mahea, looking at Troy.

Troy grunted. "Whoa, Creeper's standing up to me!" He said, acting surprised. "Why, are you with her?"

Seth looked around frantically. "Uh, no…" He said.

"Then I don't see why we can't hook up girl." He reached for Mahea's hand who snapped it away.

"Look, why don't you just get lost." Seth said strongly.

Troy looked at Seth for a few moments, then his eyes narrowed. "Why, what are you gonna do about it, huh, Creeper?" He said, pushing Seth's shoulders.

"Hey!" Shane said, making everyone turn to look at him. He walked up to where they were standing and crossed his arms over his chest. "Do we have a problem here?" He looked at Troy fiercely.

Troy took a few steps back. "No man, no problem."

"Good." Shane said. "Then get to class." Troy, Sean and Cory turned around and walked away. "You guys okay?" He asked Seth and Mahea. They nodded their heads. "Okay, well the bell's gonna ring, you better get to your homerooms." He told them, then walked off in Claire's office's direction.

"You didn't have to do that." Mahea said as they began to walk to their classroom.

Seth shrugged. "It's okay, it's not like I could do anything to make him hate me anymore." Seth said. "Besides, it wasn't cool, what he was trying to do." He said to her.

Mahea nodded. "Yeah, I hate guys like that. But thanks, for sticking up for me." She said, and lightly kissed him on the cheek. "See ya." She smiled and walked off in her homeroom's direction.

Seth stood there, not able to move. For his entire life, he never had a girl who liked him, none the less kissed him. He didn't really know if Mahea had liked him, and it was only a kiss on the cheek, but it was more than he's ever gotten before he met her. He stood there long after the bell to start homeroom rang, but he took his time getting to his class, thinking about what just happened. He didn't know what it meant, but he hoped it was something good.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Seth tried not to act overly excited in physics when Mahea walked in. She sat down next to him and smiled, remembering her little way of thanking him that morning. Seth still didn't know what to think of it, but he didn't want to get too excited about it.

"Okay guys, let me check the rest of your textbooks really fast." Mrs. Parker announced and quickly went up every isle and checked off students with their books covered.

She returned to her desk and smiled at the class. "Well guys, today we'll be heading into our textbooks to take a look at chapter one!" She said enthusiastically as the students moaned. "Oh c'mon, it's not that bad." She said and opened her textbooks. Slowly the students did that as well.

"I'm gonna try something new this year." She told them. "I'll try to go over each chapter with a PowerPoint, that way you guys don't die of boredom if I did it through lectures." She said, hearing sigh's of relief's coming from the class. Mrs. Parker turned off the lights and began her PowerPoint.

Mahea took out her notebook to start jotting down notes, while the students in back of her got comfortable in their seats and began to fall asleep. Mahea and Seth, along with the other students couldn't help but laugh whenever someone began snoring in the back of the class. The bell rang in no time, and mostly everyone raced out of the class, except for those who were just waking up.

The day went by rather quickly, and it was already time for Theatre Performance class with yet another game to play. After class, Dylan, Clarissa, Reggie, Seth and Mahea agreed to go to Tony's to hang out for a while. Seth and Mahea walked together both went to their lockers before they went to Tony's. Seth's locker was only down the hall from Mahea's, so they decided to go together.

"Hi." Mahea heard a voice from behind her. It was Damien, walking up to her.

She smiled. "Hi." She replied, and put some of her books into her locker. "Damien, right?" She asked for reassurance.

He nodded. "Yeah." He shoved his hands in his pockets, not sure what to say. "So, umm, I heard you're new here."

"Yeah, I just moved a couple weeks ago." She took her physics book out of her locker.

Damien cleared his throat. "So, maybe we can, ya know…" He stumbled over his words. "We can, um, hang out together, sometime…" He finally got out.

Mahea closed her locker and looked at him. "Yeah, sure." She smiled. She saw Seth walking up to them. "Hey Seth." She said, making Damien turn around to look at Seth's troubled face.

"Hey." Seth said with no enthusiasm in his voice at all.

Damien nodded. "Hey." Damien could feel the uncomfortable vibes from both Seth and Mahea so he decided it'd be best to take his leave. "Well, I'll see you later then." He said to Mahea. "Bye." He waved and turned around.

"See ya." She said to him. Both Mahea and Seth watched him walk away, then they turned to each other.

"What was that about?" Seth asked her as they started walking down the hall.

Mahea shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. He just asked to hang out sometime." She told him.

Seth looked at her, surprised. "Hang out?" He questioned, fiddling with his jacket zipper. "You mean, like on a date or something?" He asked her awkwardly.

Mahea chuckled. "Nah, I doubt it. Probably not." She told him, noticing Seth's unusual behavior.

Seth let out a deep breath. "Good." He said, then his face went red. "I mean, umm, I just…never mind." He said, completely embarrassed at what he just said.

They met up with Dylan, Reggie and Clarissa and showed Mahea around the neighborhood and took her to Tony's. They've all been going to Tony's since eight grade, and they even had their own table. They talked about school, classes, and just tried to relax now that school was in session. Mahea felt good that she'd made friends at school and she felt even better that she was hanging out with them.

Seth walked up to his front door and saw Shane's car in the driveway. "Hey Shane." Seth said when he walked in. Shane, Claire, and Julie were in the living room.

"Hi honey." Julie said from the couch. "Good day today?" She asked him, leaning on the edge of her seat.

Seth nodded. "Yeah, pretty good." He looked at Shane and Claire. "Is something wrong?" He asked, concerned.

"Oh no," Claire began to say. "We just came by to visit." She said, calming Seth down.

"Shane's been telling us you're having fun in Theatre Performance." Julie smiled.

Seth smiled. "Yeah, it's pretty fun. Some cool people this year." He told them.

"And that you've got a crush on some girl." Zoe commented, walking through the living room.

"What?" Seth asked, surprised she said that. "What girl?"

Zoe shrugged, walking into the kitchen then back to the living room. "I don't know. Shane was saying something about a girl in your theatre class." She said, one hand on her hip. "Mom have you seen my cell?" She asked, then followed her mom's gesture to the small table by the couch.

Seth looked at Shane. "What girl?" He asked, trying to sound casual.

Shane smiled. "You know what girl." He chuckled.

Claire and Julie looked at each other and smiled. "So, who's this girl Seth?" Julie asked him.

Seth looked around the room then shrugged. "Uh, I don't know. Just some girl." He said quietly. "Nothing big."

"It's Mahea." Shane said, making Seth jerk his head up.

"Shane!" He exclaimed, drawing his hands up to his face and burying it in them.

Claire looked surprised. "Oh, Mahea." She exchanged looks with Shane, then turned to Seth. "Well Seth, I think Mahea's a very intelligent, gifted and sweet girl." She said.

"Oh that's sweet Seth." Julie beamed.

Seth nodded. "Yeah okay." He slowly turned to walk out of the room. "I'm gonna go burry myself under by bed now. Bye." He said, and trailed off to his room.

"Who's Mahea?" Julie asked them. Claire and Shane decided they should tell her about Mahea.

"So, who's the girl?" Zoe asked from her doorway, watching Seth walk up the stairs.

"Leave me alone. I already embarrassed myself in front of mom. I'd rather not have a repeat of it with you." He said.

She shrugged. "That's okay, I was listening, so you don't need to tell me." She smirked.

Seth looked at her. "Thanks."

Lulu came out of her room and stopped in front of them. "What are we talking about?" She asked cheerfully.

"Nothing." Seth quickly replied.

"Seth likes a girl from school." Zoe taunted.

Both Zoe and Lulu began to chuckle, so Seth walked off to his room. Ignoring the fact that they were both following him into his room, he took his backpack off and jumped onto his bed.

"What?" He asked them.

Lulu looked at him for a few moments. "Do you really like a girl?" She asked him.

He stared back. "Why would it matter to you?" He said, not answering her question.

"That just means it's a yes." Zoe said.

Seth sat up on his bed. "Okay, why are you guys doing this?" He looked at the two of them. "Really, it doesn't have anything to do with either of you. You could care less what goes on in my life." He said, looking at Zoe.

"I know, but it's still interesting to know what does go on in your weird life." Zoe said, plopping herself down next to him, and Lulu sat down on the floor in front of them.

"So, what's her name, and what's she like?" Zoe asked him pleasantly.

Seth rolled his eyes. "This is when I wish I had older brothers." He said, annoyed.

Zoe slapped his knee. "Seriously Seth, we wanna know." She told him as Lulu nodded.

"Yeah, I mean, you've never had a girlfriend before." Lulu commented.

"Thanks Lulu." Seth replied, still annoyed.

"What I mean is that, this girl might actually like you too. So you could maybe end up dating." She said, getting excited.

Seth thought about Mahea for a few seconds, then smiled. "Well, she did kiss me." She said, which got both Zoe and Lulu excited.

"She kissed you!" Zoe exclaimed, almost jumping off the seat.

"Well, it was only on the cheek." He quickly told her.

She waved her hand, dismissing that comment. "So what, it's still a kiss. Trust me, I should know." Zoe smiled, Lulu giggled.

"So?" Lulu said. "Tell us what happened!" She said enthusiastically.

Seth felt that he wouldn't be able to get himself out of this situation, so he might as well tell them about Mahea. It wouldn't kill him to tell them, but he still would've like older brothers to talk about Mahea. But he had to make do with his sisters for now.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Seth, taking Zoe's advice, asked Sam if she'd like to go see a movie on Saturday. To Seth's surprise, Sam said yes, and agreed to meet him at the movie theatres in the early afternoon.

"So, you want me to drive you down there?" Julie asked Seth as she washed the dishes from Peter and Tyler's lunch.

Seth shook his head. "Nah, it's okay, I'll walk."

She looked up at him. "Are you sure, it's a long walk."

"I'm sure." He told her. "Bye guys." He gave Peter a high five and patted Tyler's head. "See you mom." He said, and headed for the front door.

"Bye Seth!" She called to him, and the door closed behind him.

It was about a 20 minute walk to the Chesapeake Heights town center, and when he got to the movie theatres, Mahea was already there.

"Hey." He said, walking up to her. "You've been waiting long?"

She shook her head. "Nah, just got here."

"Ready?" He asked, gesturing towards the ticket line.

"Yep." Mahea replied, and they both walked in the ticket line.

"Two for the 1:45 showing of _Batman Begins_." Seth said to the woman in the ticket booth. Seth saw Mahea reaching for her wallet, but stopped her. "No it's okay, I got it." He said, and quickly gave the woman his money for the tickets.

Mahea smiled. "Thanks." They walked into the theatre which was buzzing with people in it.

"So," Seth got in a line. "Do you want a drink? And popcorn?" He asked her.

"Yeah, a small Pepsi." She said.

"Hi, could we have two small Pepsi's, and a small popcorn." Seth said, watching the teenage boy scramble to make their drinks and get their popcorn.

"That'll be $8." The boy said.

Mahea quickly got her money out and handed it to the boy. She looked at Seth. "I got this one." She told him. "You got the tickets, I got the snacks." She smiled.

A smile made it's way across his face. "Okay."

They walked over to their theatre and sat down in the fifth row. Soon the lights went down, making the crowd stop talking. Several commercials played, including one about Smoothie Mixed Skittles that both Mahea and Seth found amusing, yet twisted. Five movie previews played, and finally the movie began. Seth and Mahea watched in silence, occasionally whispering something about the movie they found funny, or interesting. After the movie, they walked around the town center and talked about the movie.

"It's weird, going to see movie versions of comic books." Mahea mentioned. "I mean, sometimes I don't wanna go see the movie, 'cause I'm afraid it'll mess up the original comic." She smiled. "Kinda silly."

Seth looked at her and smiled. "No, that's exactly how I am." He said. "A lot of the times the movies get a whole bunch of stuff wrong with the storyline. I hate it when they do that."

"Exactly." Mahea agreed. They smiled at each other, then walked a few steps in silence.

"Want some ice cream?" Seth suggested, and Mahea smiled. They walked over to Baskin Robins, Seth got a scoop of Rocky Road, and Mahea got a scoop of Cookies N' Cream. They walked around the town center some more, eating their ice cream and talking about school.

"So, how was your first week here?" Seth asked her, taking a spoonful of his ice cream and sticking it in his mouth.

She nodded. "It was pretty good. I like it here." She looked off into the distance. "But, it's still not like home, when everything was easier." She sighed.

"What do you mean?" Seth asked her.

Mahea saw an open bench and walked over to it, Seth following her. "Back home in Hawaii." She said as Seth sat down next to her. "When I was younger, everything was easy. School, friends, everything was always there, it wasn't as hectic as it is now. Once we started moving, I've been really busy, it's always hard to settle down again." She told him, watching her ice cream turn into soup.

Seth finished his ice cream. "I can see how that must be hard." He said. "Everything does get harder as you grow up. I used to always wanna be Peter Pan, and never have to grow up."

"I know what you mean. Growing up takes a lot of work, but I'm sure there's positive things in the end." She said, changing her tone of voice.

Seth smiled. "Yeah, I guess you're right." They looked up at each other and smiled. They got up and continued to walk around the town center, when they passed Fun Factory and Mahea stopped right in front of it.

"Ooh, can we go in?" She asked Seth, making him turn around and look at her. "I haven't been in an arcade for months!" She exclaimed, and pulled on his hand and led him inside. Mahea got a few dollars worth of tokens and walked around with Seth looking for games to play.

The ended up playing a few racing games, air hockey, and a game of Mortal Combat.

"I'll get a few more dollars." Seth said, and headed off to the token machine. He returned, and found Mahea gazing at the Dance Dance Revolution system in front of her.

Mahea grinned. "Wanna play?"

Seth looked at her, then looked at the game. "Are you serious?" He asked, not able to picture himself playing that game. He looked at Mahea and saw her smiling. "No, no way, I'm not playing that game." Seth told her, turning around to walk away.

She grabbed his hand. "Oh c'mon, it'll be fun!" She said.

He took another look at the game and sighed. "I guess it wouldn't kill me." He gave in, following Mahea on to the dance pad.

"Here, I like this song." Mahea said, clicking on the title, "Moonlight Shadow".

"You've played this before?" Seth asked Mahea.

She nodded and smiled. "Yeah, tons of times before. I even have two versions of it on Playstation." She said.

Seth threw up his hands. "Great, not only am I gonna look like an idiot, I'll look like an idiot against someone who knows what they're doing." He complained.

Mahea chuckled. "Don't worry, you could never look like an idiot." She said, making him smile.

The music started to play, and they both focused on the screen in front of them. Both started to move their feet according to the arrows that flashed across the screen. Halfway through the song, a crowd gathered around them, watching them play. At the end of the first song, Seth stopped moving his feat and breathed heavily.

"You play this for fun?" He asked, leaning on his knees.

Mahea smiled. "Yeah, I like it." She said. "Here, you know what you do, don't keep putting your foot back into the center." She told him. "Just keep your feet on the last arrow that you touch, then move it to the next arrow. That way, you don't have to rush and figure out where to put it, it makes it easier."

Seth nodded. "Okay, I'll try it." The next song started, and Seth did a lot better. He actually found himself smiling and laughing through that song.

"See, that wasn't so bad." Mahea smiled. The crowd clapped for them once the second song ended. "Okay…" She looked for the last song. "Here, this is my favorite song." She said, and clicked on a song entitled "Boys". The music began and lights flashed from the screen, and Seth and Mahea started moving their feet on the different arrows.

After the song was through, the screen showed their scores.

"Wow, double A's?" Seth said as the crowd cheered. "You're really good Mahea.

She smiled. "Thanks. But see, you got a B. You're not that bad either." She smiled, and they both stepped off the dance pad as the crowd disappeared. Seth and Mahea took a few steps off the dance pad, and found Tony and his flunkies behind him.

"Well, well, well." Troy said. "I didn't know Creeper went out during the day." He sneered, making Cory and Sean laugh.

Seth glared at Troy. "I'm not a vampire."

"Are you sure?" Sean said. "Then what's with all the black you wear?" He teased, laughing some more.

"I think he looks fine." Mahea said, glaring at all three of them.

Troy looked at Sam, then smiled. "Oh c'mon Mahea, you don't have to be nice to Creeper anymore." He said, taking a few steps towards Mahea.

"Don't even." Mahea backed away from Troy as he tried to take her hand.

"Just leave us alone." Seth said, getting both annoyed and angry.

Troy stared at Seth. "Or what?" He said. Then the manager came up behind Sam and Seth.

"Do we have a problem here?" He asked sternly.

Troy looked to Sean and Cory, then Seth and Mahea. "No sir." He grunted, then walked away, with his friends following him.

"C'mon, let's go." Seth said and he and Mahea walked out of Fun Factory. "Sorry, they're always there to bother me." Seth said, shaking his head.

"It's okay." Mahea said. "Thanks for playing with me, see, you liked it, didn't you?" She smiled, changing it to a better subject.

A smile crept across his face. "Yeah, I guess it was fun." He admitted, making them both laugh. He looked at Mahea. "You want me to walk you home?" He asked, hoping she'd say yes.

She looked up at him. "It's kinda a long way from here." She told him.

"I don't mind." He said, and they turned around to walk to Mahea's house.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

On the way to Mahea's house, they talked more about school, music, and theatre. Mahea told Seth that she started getting interested in theatre about two years before she left Hawaii. She joined a local theatre youth group and was in a few small productions. Seth explained to Mahea about how he started acting instead of going to his wrestling practice, and how Shane soon took over the theatre. They reached Mahea's house, and she took Seth inside to meet her family, even though she wasn't planning on doing this at first, but she went through with it anyway.

"Hi mom, hi dad." Mahea said, walking into the kitchen. Her mom turned around to see Mahea standing with a tall, blond boy at her side. "This is Seth." She introduced them to Seth. "Seth this is my mom and dad, Sheryl and Terry."

Seth shook hands with both her parents. "It's nice to meet you." He said to them, smiling.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you too Seth." Mrs. Akana said pleasantly.

"Same here." Mr. Akana said. Being a father, he wasn't as 'open' with boys as his wife was.

Kahi came down stairs and strutted into the kitchen. "Hey guys."

"Oh, this is my older brother, Kahi." Mahea said, and Seth shook hands with Kahi.

"Hey." They said to each other, then Kahi went on with his business and got a drink from the fridge.

"So," Mrs. Akana began to say. "Did you two have a good time at the movies?" She asked.

Mahea and Seth looked at each other and nodded. "Yeah, it was pretty good." Mahea said.

"What'd you see?" Mr. Akana asked.

"Batman Begins." Seth answered. "And this time they didn't really mess up the storyline." He added.

"Yeah, it was pretty decent." Mahea agreed.

Mrs. Akana smiled. "Well, I'm glad you two had a good time."

"Well, I better get going." Seth said.

Mahea nodded. "I'll see you out."

"It was nice meeting all of you." Seth said.

"Nice to meet you too." Mrs. Akana said, Kahi and Mr. Akana nodded at Seth and watched Seth and Mahea walk out the front door.

"Your family seems nice." Seth commented, stepping out of her house.

Mahea nodded. "Yeah, once you get used to them." She said. They stood there for several moments, not saying anything. "I had a good time today." Mahea said.

Seth nodded. "Me too." He shifted his weight to his other foot, and stuck his hands in his jeans pocket. "Umm, Mahea," He said. "I was wondering…"

She looked at him. "Yeah?"

Seth cleared his throat. "Well, if you would, maybe, if you'd wanna," He said, and took a deep breath. "If you'd wanna go out, sometime?" He asked her.

"You mean like, on a date?" She asked, smiling.

"Yeah, like a date." He nodded, looking at her, waiting for her answer.

Mahea smiled. "But this was a date."

Seth looked at her and smiled and let out a deep breath. "You're right, it was." Then, to Seth's surprise, Mahea lightly kissed him on the lips, then smiled.

"I'll talk to you later." She smiled, then opened her door. "Bye." She said.

In shock, Seth raised his hand and slowly waved goodbye, watching her walk in her house. He stood there for several moments, thinking about what just happened. He slowly turned around and headed home. The whole way home, he replayed the whole day in his head, excluding the part with Troy in it. He could still see and smell Mahea when she kissed him, and he didn't want to ever forget that.

At dinner that night, Mahea sat down with her family, and they asked her some things about Seth.

"So, was that the boy?" Mr. Akana asked her.

Mahea nodded. "Yeah, the one I told you guys about." She said, drinking her water.

"And are you sure he's not…?" Mrs. Akana asked, looking at Mahea.

Mahea dropped her fork on her plate. "Mom, no." She said. "I wouldn't go to the movies with him if it was Seth." She said, somewhat offended that her mom thought that way about Seth.

"Well, are you sure though?" Kahi asked, stuffing some chicken in his mouth. "I mean, he could just be acting. You did say he was into theatre." He said, making her parents look at her, thinking that what Kahi said was right.

"I'm sure." Mahea answered, glaring at Kahi. She turned to her parents. "It's not Seth, trust me."

Mr. and Mrs. Akana looked at each, wanting to believe Sam.

"Besides," Mahea said, before anyone else could voice their opinion. "Shane is friends with Seth and his family. Shane helped Seth's family out a couple years ago. I'm pretty sure Shane would warn me if it was Seth, which it isn't." Mahea told them.

"So you're saying Shane knows it's not Seth?" Mr. Akana asked for reassurance.

Mahea nodded. "I'm sure." She replied. "Don't worry, I'm working on it, and I'm being careful." Mahea said, as they continued to eat their dinner.

* * *

"So?" Julie asked, pouring Tyler a cup of water at the dinner table. "How'd it go?" She asked Seth.

Seth smiled. "It was pretty good." He said, looking at his plate, smiling and thinking about Mahea.

"Oh my gosh!" Zoe exclaimed, out of the blue.

Everyone looked at her, startled. "What?" Lulu asked her.

Zoe smiled at Seth. "I know what happened!"

Seth looked at her. "What? I told you, we went to the movies, then got ice cream. We played some games at Fun Factory, then I walked her home." He said, playing it cool.

Zoe grinned. "Mmhmm, but I know what happened once you got to her house." She said.

"I met her parents?" Seth asked.

"Yeah, that, but after that…" Zoe smirked. Seth knew that Zoe somehow knew Mahea kissed her by the look on her face, and he started fidgeting in his seat.

Julie looked at Zoe. "What happened?"

"Yeah, what happened?" Lulu echoed.

"Should I tell them, or you?" Zoe teased.

Seth looked around the table. "Nothing happened." He said, making it quite obvious something actually did happen.

"She kissed you! Didn't she!" Zoe exclaimed loudly.

They all turned to Seth. "Did she?" Julie asked, getting excited.

"But I thought she already kissed you?" Lulu asked, somewhat confused.

"Yeah, but that was on the cheek." Zoe clarified. "But this one was on the lips!" She smiled.

"Well?" Julie asked Seth, anticipating his answer.

"Okay fine!" He said. "Yes, she did kiss me." He said, annoyed and embarrassed at the same time. His mom and his sisters all let out a scream of excitement for him at that exact moment.

Julie got up and moved towards Seth and hugged him. "Oh I'm so happy for you Seth!" She said, tightening her grip around him.

"Mom!" He said, trying to break free.

"Aww, Seth is finally growing up." Zoe teased, laughing.

Tyler clapped his hands, and Peter started to chuckle.

Once Julie finally let go of Seth, he took in a deep breath. "What's the big deal, we're not even going out." He told them, straightening his shirt.

"So?" Zoe replied. "It's a step towards going out." She explained. "Trust me, this girl obviously like you, a lot." She smiled.

"Does this mean Seth has a girlfriend?" Peter asked, smiling.

Lulu shook her head. "Not yet, but soon, I think."

"C'mon, it was just one kiss. It didn't mean anything." Seth said, playing with his food. Even though he told his family that it didn't mean anything, it meant a lot to him inside. That was his first real kiss from a girl.

For the rest of the night, his sisters and mom kept bugging him about Mahea, wanting to know when they'd get to meet her. Seth told them anything to leave him alone, and agreed to ask Mahea over one day after school so that they could meet him.

As Seth was getting ready to go to bed, he thought about whether he should call Mahea the next day. But then he thought that might seem a little desperate. He didn't even know if they were officially going out or not. He wanted to, but he didn't want to rush into anything. He wasn't that experienced with girls, and he especially didn't want to do anything too embarrassing in front of Mahea. He fell asleep quickly, thinking about Mahea's smile and that she had given him his first kiss.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Zoe finally started college on Monday, so she now had to drive Peter, Lulu and Seth to school on her way to her own school. Zoe spent the whole weekend complaining about starting school on Monday, and by now, everyone was able to tune her out quite well.

"I hate school." She moped, getting into the van. Seth got in the front seat and Lulu and Peter hopped in the back.

Julie sighed. "Well, you're gonna have to get over that, you have no choice." She said outside of the van.

Zoe rolled her eyes. "Whatever mom." She said, and started the car. "Bye." She said grumpily and started pulling out of the driveway. Peter, Seth and Lulu waved goodbye to their mom as she waved back.

"Bye guys!" She called to them, then turned to take Tyler to school.

"So," Zoe said, making conversation with Seth, which she rarely did. "You excited?" She asked.

Seth looked at her strangely. "About what?"

She rolled her eyes. "About seeing Mahea today. I mean, after you guys kissed and all." She teased, making him annoyed.

"I don't know." He told her. "I don't really care." He lied, hoping she'd stop asking about it.

"Really?" She questioned.

"Really." He stated.

Zoe smiled. "Then why don't you change what you wear? I mean, it's so weird." She told him.

"Why? Mahea likes what I wear." He said, looking at his clothes, then turned to Zoe who was grinning at him.

"You don't care, do you?" She smirked, making Lulu and Peter giggle in the back seat.

"Shut up." He replied, crossing his arms over his chest the rest of the way.

"Bye Zoe, bye Seth." Lulu said, getting out of the car. Peter followed her out of the car, then ran up this friends as they got closer to the building.

"Bye." Seth and Zoe both said, watching her walk up to her school building.

Lulu spotted her friend, Lacie and walked up to her. "Hey Lacie." Lulu smiled.

"Hey Lulu." She said. "So, did you tell your family yet?" She asked.

Lulu shook her head and frowned. "No, I didn't." Lacie's shoulders dropped. "I would've, but they would've gotten too excited for me. And if I didn't win, then it'd make it even worse." She explained, turning around to see Seth getting out of the van.

"Makes sense." Lacie said, then put her arm around Lulu's shoulder. "C'mon, we gotta win this thing." She smiled, and the two of them walked into school.

Once Dylan spotted Seth at his locker, he ran up to him, almost giving Seth a heart attack.

"Geez!" Seth gasped. "What is it?"

"So? How'd it go?" He smiled.

Seth lifted his eyebrow. "How did what go?" He closed his locker and turned to Dylan.

Dylan smirked. "You know. Saturday, your date with Mahea." He said, anxiously awaiting an answer.

"Oh, it went pretty good." Seth told him as they walked down the hall.

"Pretty good? Was that it?" Dylan asked.

Seth stopped walking and turned to him. "Dylan, a guy doesn't go around telling his friends what he did on date."

Dylan blinked a few times. "Yeah they do. They usually brag about their dates." He said, then smiled. "So it _was_ a date!" He said happily, Seth rolling his eyes and continuing to his homeroom. Dylan walked with Seth to his homeroom, asking him about his date with Mahea until the bell rang. Seth was happy to see Dylan go, but knew that he'd be asked the same questions by Clarissa and Reggie when he saw them.

Seth was both nervous and excited to see Mahea in physics. He wasn't quite sure what he'd say or do, or how she'd act around him. When he saw her walk in, a smile immediately made it's way onto his face.

"Hey Mahea." He said as she sat in her seat.

Mahea smiled back to him. "Hey Seth." They stared at each other for several moments, until the loud bell broke their trance. Throughout the whole class period, they would each glance at one another to see if the other person was looking at them. Several times, Seth found himself staring at Mahea for so long, she'd look up and catch his eye, making him look at his book and blush.

At the end of the lecture, Mrs. Parker turned on the lights, making many students moan. The bell rang and everyone rushed out of the class.

"So, I'll see you at lunch?" Seth asked Mahea on their way out.

Mahea nodded. "Yep, see you then." She replied, and walked off to her class.

Dylan had told both Reggie and Clarissa about Seth and Mahea's date on Saturday. And they all were hinting towards details at lunch. But neither Seth nor Mahea gave away any juicy details, especially not about the kiss Mahea gave Seth at the end of their date.

"So?" Clarissa caught up with Mahea after lunch. "What happened?" She asked curiously.

Mahea smiled. "We told you guys. We went to the movies, had ice cream, played some games at the arcade. That's it." She told her.

Clarissa nodded. "Right." She said, disbelieving that was all that happened.

"What?" Mahea asked.

Clarissa looked at Mahea. "That smile says there was more that went on."

Mahea blushed. "Well, there might've been…"

"Oh, I knew it!" Clarissa gushed. "What?"

Mahea looked at Clarissa and smiled widely. Clarissa knew from that smile exactly what happened.

"Oh my gosh! You guys kissed, didn't you?" She said loudly, getting excited.

"Shhh!" Mahea said, trying to calm Clarissa down. "Yes, we did." She said quietly, smiling, Clarissa still excited.

Clarissa smiled. "That's awesome. I knew it'd work out between you guys." She said. "So, you guys official?" She asked.

Mahea looked at Clarissa. "Official? You mean like, boyfriend and girlfriend?" Clarissa nodded. "Oh, I don't know. I don't think so." She said, shaking her head. "Or at least not yet."

When Clarissa and Mahea passed the yearbook classroom, Damien made his way around the corner, watching them walk down the hall.

"Hmm, Mahea and Seth." He said quietly to himself. "Interesting…".

After theatre class, Shane started putting his chairs back in a circle as the students left. He called to talk to Seth once everyone left. He saw Mahea walk out the door last, and waved goodbye to Seth who was still at his chair. She looked to Shane and shook her head, he replied with a small nod.

"Seth." Shane said, and waved him to walk over to where he was.

"Yeah?" He asked, putting his backpack on his shoulders.

Shane smiled. "So, how'd Saturday go?" He asked.

Seth dropped his head back, then pulled it up again. "Man, everyone wants to know about it." He complained.

"Well, it was your first date." Shane said, still smiling. "So, it went good?"

Seth nodded. "Yeah, it was pretty good. We had fun." He told Shane, who looked like he wanted to know more. "And we got ice cream, and went to Fun Factory."

"And?" Shane asked.

"And I walked her home." Seth calmly said.

Shane's eyes widened. "Then what?" He said, being very obvious about what he wanted to know.

Seth threw up his hands. "And, she kissed me." He told him.

Shane smiled and gave Seth a hug. "Ah, that's right." He said, releasing Seth. "See, I knew it'd work out between you too. And just think, if you guys both get the lead roles in our production, that'd be even better. You'd really see the chemistry." Shane told Seth, walking into his small office.

Seth looked at Shane and followed him. "You mean, Mahea's really that good to get the lead?" He asked.

Shane nodded his head. "Oh yeah." He sat in his chair. "She got one of the lead roles in three productions, before she was ten!" He exclaimed. "And she kept acting while she moved to different school. She's pretty good Seth. She might even beat you out for that Oscar." He joked.

"Wow, I didn't know that." Seth said.

Shane nodded. "Well, you better get going'." He said, and Seth took his leave.

"Hey!" Seth said, walking into the living room to see Lulu, Zoe, and their mom sitting down, talking. "I thought you were gonna pick me up. Where were you?" He asked Zoe, gesturing with his hands.

Zoe bit her lip. "Oh yeah, sorry about that." She said, half smiling. "I forgot. I just wanted to get home after school." She told him as he took his backpack off.

"Zoe was telling us she had a pretty okay day at school." Julie said.

"Really?" Seth asked, not interested in hearing about it.

Zoe glared at Seth, then turned to her mom. "It was okay. Like I said, most of my classes are okay. Some of my teachers are boring, I can't stand one of them." She complained. "But other than that, it was okay."

Julie smiled. "That's great." She looked at Lulu who was restless in her seat. "And what about you Lulu? You said you had something to tell us?" She asked, everyone looking at Lulu.

Lulu smiled. "Well, I didn't tell you guys, because I didn't want you to get excited." She began. "But, I ran for student council President." She said, holding her breath.

"Well?" Julie asked.

"Yeah, what happened?" Seth asked her.

Lulu smiled. "Well, we had our election today. And I won!" She said happily.

Julie got up and hugged Lulu. "Oh, I'm so proud of you!" She said, squeezing Lulu tightly.

"Cool." Seth smiled.

"Awesome, I heard student council's really fun." Zoe said. "I was never in it, but I had friends who were. You'll do great, especially as President." Zoe smiled.

Everyone was excited to hear about Lulu being her seventh grade President. Lulu explained about the meetings, the other officers, and upcoming events she had to plan. She was finally glad she told her family about it. And after dinner, Peter and Tyler even made her a congratulations card. It was a good beginning of the school year for all the Plummer kids.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Shane assigned the first project in his Theatre Performance class on Wednesday. It was an assignment where students would break up into groups of three and perform a skit that they had come up with themselves. There would need to be a set of characters, a setting, a plot, a conflict and a solution for the conflict. It was required that it be at least five minutes long, with a written out script given to Shane the day of the performance, and they were also required to use costumes and props. Seth, Mahea, and Dylan were one group and decided to set their skit in a 1940's bar.

"Yeah!" Dylan exclaimed. "I could be the leader of one of those mob gangs. And you could be that good cop, undercover, trying to figure out what's going on in his town." He patted Seth on the back. "And Mahea, you could play the waitress, trying to keep me, the bad guy from being discovered by the good cop by flirting and batting your eyes at his handsome devil." Dylan teased, batting his eyes and looking at Seth. Seth and Mahea both cracked up laughing while watching Dylan fool around.

As Dylan continued to humor himself in his own world, Seth and Mahea looked at each other and smiled.

"_Flirt with Seth, that should be easy_." Mahea thought to herself, still looking at Seth.

"_As kooky as Dylan is, I think his plan's good_." Seth continued to look at Mahea, then turned to see Dylan still acting out the skit by himself.

Shane gave the class the rest of the week and the weekend to work on their skits and getting them organized. Everyday they would give him a brief report on how their projects were coming along. The presentations would begin next week Tuesday.

"Okay guys." Shane called everyone's attention before the bell rang on Friday afternoon. They were all itching to get out of school for the weekend.

"I'm leaving it up to you to work with your groups today and this weekend. I'll take no excuses for late presentations next week." The bell rang and people began to get out of their seats. "Okay, see you next week." Shane said loudly as a rush of students fled out of the classroom.

"You coming Mahea?" Seth asked as they left the room and walked up the stairs.

Mahea nodded. "Yeah, I just gotta go to my locker real fast." She said, and quickly walked into the school building. Just before she closed her locker, Damien appeared at her side.

"Hey Mahea." He said happily.

She turned to him. "Oh, hi." She closed her locker. "What's up?"

He shrugged. "Ah, nothing much." He fixed his backpack on his shoulder. "I was just wondering, if you'd wanna go hang out, ya know, get something to eat?" He asked, hopeful she'd say yes.

Mahea smiled. "Well, I would but…" She began to say, Damien then frowned.

"You have plans?" He asked, disappointed.

She nodded. "I gotta work on this skit with Dylan and Seth." She told him.

Damien nodded and lifted his head. "That's okay. Maybe some other time." He said.

"Sure." Mahea smiled, then they began to walk their separate ways.

Just as Mahea and Damien walked away from each other, Seth turned the corner, wondering what they were talking about.

"What was that about?" He asked curiously.

Mahea shrugged. "Nothing." She told him. "C'mon." She said, and led him out of the building.

"Where are they?" Zoe asked, racing into the kitchen. She'd just gotten home from school, and looked around for Seth.

"They're not home yet." Lulu said, looking up from her math work.

Julie looked at her watch. "They should be here soon." She said, and in a matter of minutes, they heard the door open.

"Mom! We're home!" Seth called as he, Dylan and Mahea walked into his house.

The three of them raced out of the kitchen.

"Hi mom." Seth said, smiling.

"Hi honey." Julie said, catching her breath.

Seth looked at Lulu and Zoe behind, who were staring at Mahea. "Uh, you guys know Dylan." He said as Dylan waved. "And this is Mahea." He said, looking at Mahea.

"Hi, it's great to meet you." Mahea said pleasantly.

Julie took a step towards Mahea and shook her hand. "It's good to meet you too Mahea. Seth's told us a lot about you." She smiled, making Lulu giggle.

Seth glared at Lulu and Zoe in back of their mom. "And those are my sister's, Zoe and Lulu." Seth said.

"Hi." Zoe and Lulu said to Mahea, as she waved to them.

"Well," Julie said, breaking the silence in the room. "I know you guys have a lot of work to do." She said.

Seth nodded. "Yeah, we'll be in here if you need us." Seth said, directing his friends to go into the living room.

"It was nice meeting you." Mahea said to all of them.

"Same here." Julie said, and walked back into the kitchen with Zoe and Lulu following her.

Once Seth, Mahea and Dylan were settled in the living room, they started to go over their script with each other. Julie and Zoe watched from the living room.

"She seems like a nice girl." Julie said, observing how she acted around Seth.

"I like her." Lulu said, working on another math problem.

Zoe nodded. "Me too. I just don't know why she'd wanna kiss Seth." She said, turning to her mom and folding her arms across her chest. "I mean, she's too pretty and sweet for Seth." She smirked.

"Oh!" Julie said, playfully throwing a dish towel at Zoe.

Just after Seth started to go over his lines, Tyler and Peter ran in the living room from downstairs, saying that they wanted to meet Mahea. Mahea introduced herself to them, and Tyler and Peter were glad to share that Seth said he thought Mahea had pretty eyes and kissed well, which made them both giggle.

"Great." Seth mumbled, burying his face in his hands, while Mahea smiled and blushed, and Dylan laughed quietly to himself.

Julie rushed in the room. "Sorry about that." She smiled, taking Peter and Tyler into the living room.

Seth looked up, his face still pink. "Huh, my brothers." He said, as both Mahea and Dylan smiled.

"Any uh, news goin' 'round in this neighborhood I should know of?" Seth asked, sitting in a chair with his arms crossed over his chest.

Mahea looked at Seth. "None that I know of." She said, pretending to serve him some beer, looking past him at Dylan, who sat on the far end of the living room.

Dylan jerked his head, motioning Mahea to go to him. Mahea nodded back, then looked at Seth. "I'll be right back." She smiled, then walked to Dylan.

Dylan raised his chin. "I got some business to do in a few minutes." He looked at Seth. "Make sure he stays clear of my business." He said in a low voice.

"Gotcha." Mahea smiled, and strutted back to Seth.

They went over their scripts several times, stopping in the middle when one or two of them started to laugh. It was hard to do a good run-through since they would always laugh about something. After they practiced a few times, they talked about their props and costumes they'd want to use.

Dylan agreed on bringing his own costume, since he had one perfect for this scene. Mahea said she'd look through some of her old costumes that night. Seth knew his dad had a dark blue suit that he could fit into, and said he might be able to use that. Seth and Mahea agreed to go down to some thrift stores the next day to look for more costume ideas and random props they could pick up. Dylan unfortunately had to go to a cousin's birthday party, a cousin whom he hadn't seen in eight years, nor did he like this cousin.

"Bye D." Seth said as Dylan got closer to the door.

"See ya Seth." Dylan said, walking out of Dylan's house. "Bye Mrs. P." He called to her, in back of Seth.

"Bye Dylan!" She waved.

Seth turned to Mahea. "So, I'll meet you at your house, around, eleven?" He asked.

Mahea nodded. "Sure." She smiled, then turned to Julie. "It was great meeting you." She said again. "And tell your brothers and sisters it was good meeting them too." Mahea said to Seth.

"It was a pleasure to meet you. Come back any time." Julie replied, smiling at both Mahea and Seth.

"Thanks. See you tomorrow." She said, and walked out of his house.

"Bye." Seth said, and closed the door behind her.

"So, another date tomorrow?" Zoe asked as Seth walked into the kitchen with Julie.

Seth looked at Zoe. "No, it's not a date. We're looking for things for class." He said.

Lulu looked up at Seth. "Well, it could be a date, if you make it into one." She suggested.

Zoe nodded. "Yeah, she's right. Just make it into a date." Zoe agreed.

"Why are you so interested in what I do with Mahea?" Seth questioned Zoe.

Zoe placed her hand on her hip and stared at Seth. "Hey, at least be happy I'm rooting for you for once. Usually I'd take any chance to make a joke about you, but this is something good, something that shouldn't be joked about." She said as Seth rolled his eyes. "Trust me, you'll thank me for being so interested in your relationship with Mahea." She smiled.

"I have no relationship with Mahea." Seth said, somewhat disappointed.

Zoe grinned. "Well, not an official one. Not yet anyway."


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Seth left his house about 10:40, since it was about a 20 minute walk from his house to Mahea's. On his way there, he kept thinking about what Lulu and Zoe said the other night about this being their second date. "_Well, it could be a date, if you make it into one_." is what Lulu told him. Then he heard Zoe's voice, _"Well, not an official one. Not yet anyway.". _Could he possibly find a way to make Mahea his girlfriend? He wanted to, but wasn't sure how he would do it.

_"I mean, she must like me."_ Seth thought to himself. _"She kissed me."_ He remembered that moment last Saturday at Mahea's house when she kissed him. Before he could argue with himself about what that kiss meant, he was already walking up Mahea's driveway and ringing her doorbell.

"Hey Seth." Mahea said, opening the door to see Seth wearing jeans and a Metallica t-shirt, along with his beanie that never seems to leave his head.

"Hi." Seth said quietly.

Mahea turned around to see her dad walking downstairs. "I'm leaving." She called to anyone who could hear her.

"Hi Seth."Terry said happily, looking at the boy standing outside of his house.

Seth waved. "Hi Mr. Akana." He smiled.

"See you guys." Mahea called, and walked out of the house. Before she closed the door, Seth waved goodbye to Mr. Akana who waved back.

Seth and Mahea walked to the town center, but didn't find any store that sold things they were looking for. Seth knew of a smaller open shopping center which was more like a thrift mart, with some enclosed shops. He told Mahea it was somewhat of a long walk, but she didn't mind. On their way there, they talked about their skit and how they thought the other groups were doing. Once they got to the smaller shopping center, they instantly found a Goodwill store and rushed in, hoping to find something worth buying.

"Ya know," Seth said as he and Mahea rummaged through racks of clothes. "I'm gonna get my license in a few months, and when I do, I can pick you up and we can drive to places. Instead of walking." He smiled.

Mahea smiled back. "It's a deal." She said, noticing how Seth's eyes lit up whenever he smiled.

Mahea found a simple white apron she could use for her waitress outfit and bought it. After they left Goodwill, they wandered around the different stands that people were selling random things at. They found a thrift store that looked like it had items from costumes and took a look into the store.

"Hey, I could get these for Dylan." Mahea said, holding up gloves with the fingers cut out. "He could be one of those bad-boy gangsters." She laughed.

Seth nodded. "He'd love it." He commented.

They looked around the store a little more and found other costume parts that they didn't need for their skit, but wanted just to have it.

"Hey Seth." Mahea called to him. "Try this." She said, handing him a dark blue hat, a detective's hat that Humphrey Bogart would wear, with a black rim around it.

"Cool." Seth said and took his beanie off and put on the dark blue one. He walked over to a mirror a few steps away and looked at himself. "I like it." He smiled.

Mahea nodded. "It looks good on you." She said, smiling brightly.

Seth turned to her and smiled. "Thanks." He said, and played around with it. Mahea took Seth's beanie and put it on her head and looked at herself in the mirror.

"I look weird wearing beanies." She said and chuckled.

"No, you look great." Seth said softly, making Mahea look at him through the mirror.

She smiled. "Thanks."

Seth took off the blue hat and looked at his blond hair. "My hair's so weird." He said, thinking that what he said sounded very strange after he said it.

Mahea chuckled and smiled. "No, I like it." She said, Seth turned to her. "You have nice hair." She commented, and began messing with Seth's hair. "I wouldn't be lying if I said I'd rather see more of your hair instead of your beanie." She smiled, then turned to go back to where she found his hat.

Seth couldn't think of any time a girl played with his hair. Except for his sisters, but that obviously didn't count. He turned to the mirror and looked at his hair. He moved some hair to the right and left side, looked at himself and smiled. He never thought he had nice hair, until now.

Mahea saw Seth still looking at himself and smiled. "C'mon Narcissus, stop looking at yourself and help me find something for my costume." Mahea teased.

Seth blushed, and walked over to Mahea who was smiling at him.

Mahea walked out of the store, smiling. "Well, an apron for four dollars from Goodwill," She began. "gloves and this waitress hat for six, I think it was a good day." She smiled.

"And, I like my new hat." Seth said, still wearing his new blue hat while his beanie sat nicely on Mahea's head.

Seth and Mahea found a small drive-thru restaurant and had lunch there. They walked back to the Chesapeake Heights town center and got smoothies. The sun was slowly going down, so Seth walked Mahea home.

Seth wasn't sure if this was actually a date or not, and he kept thinking that if it was, Mahea might kiss him again. Mahea didn't make any indications that it was a date, but he still wasn't sure when he reached her house.

Both Seth and Mahea stopped outside the front door. "Today was fun." Mahea said, smiling. "I think we picked up some good things for our skit." She told him.

Seth nodded. "Yeah, I really love my hat." Seth said, holding up the bag that his hat was in.

Mahea reached up and touched Seth's hat. "Oh sorry, I forgot about this." She smiled, and began to take it off, when Seth took her hand.

"That's okay. It looks good on you, keep it." He smiled gently.

"Thanks." Mahea smiled back.

Before Seth knew what he was doing, his eyes were closed and he felt his lips touch Mahea's. He had kissed Mahea. If this was a date or not, he ended it like one. He pulled back and looked at Mahea, who was just as shocked as he was .

"I had a good time." Seth said, gleaming.

Mahea nodded. "I guess I'll talk to you later." She said, as Seth nodded.

"Bye." Seth replied, and watched Mahea walk inside. He couldn't believe what he'd just done. He didn't know he had it in him to kiss her, but he obviously did. His walk home was different from the others. He saw things in a different way, in a better, more 'happy-go-lucky' sort of way.

When he got home, Zoe and Lulu immediately attacked him at the door, wanting to know how it all went. By the casual smile on his face, Zoe figured that something 'big' happened when he walked her home, and sure enough, she was right.

Seth, still somewhat confused about all that happened, wasn't sure if this second kiss meant that he and Mahea were now going out or not. But he had to think of something to do this upcoming week of school. He felt he needed to change something about him, since everything else was changing as well. His view of school, his thoughts of Mahea, as well as how he looked at himself.


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Seth decided to go try and wear something different on Monday. He knew Zoe would get a kick out of what he was wearing, she'd probably have some remark waiting to be said. But he didn't care, he was only thinking about what Mahea would think of it.

"Wow, nice clothes slick." Zoe teased, getting into the driver's seat.

Seth walked around the car to the passengers seat and got in. "Is that a compliment?" He asked, not looking for an answer.

Zoe shrugged. "It could be." She said.

"I think you look nice." Lulu smiled, looking at the back of Seth's head. Seth was wearing his usual blue jeans and converse shoes. What was different was that he was wearing a white shirt, with a light blue over shirt, instead of his black jacket and shirts. He also was missing his grey beanie which Mahea had.

Peter nodded happily. "Yep, Seth looks nice!" He said.

Seth turned around. "Thanks guys, at least some people think so." He said, smiling.

"Whoa! Nice clothes, I remember you used to wear this last year, or something." Dylan said at lunch.

Clarissa nodded. "Yeah, they do look familiar."

Mahea smiled. "I think you look nice Seth." She said, making Seth smile too.

"Thanks." He replied, and continued eating his lunch. He was thrilled Mahea complimented him on his clothes, since that was the main reason why he wore them.

"Oh, and I love seeing your blond hair." Mahea added, smiling brightly across the table to Seth.

Monday was the last day to rehearse and practice their skits, and most groups were doing last minute run-throughs and going over costumes and props. Dylan brought his costume, which was a combination of black dress pants, a black blazer, and a dark red shirt. He also brought a fake mustache he was willing to wear, and agreed to use the gloves Mahea bought. Seth found his dad's old dark blue suit, and brought along with him the hat he bought on Saturday. Mahea had her white apron and waitress hat she bought. She also found a dark red dress with sleeves she'd worn a few years ago to a family get-together, along with her mom's heels she found.

"This dress might be a little short though." Mahea said, holding it up against her body. It looked like five inches above her knees.

Kevin walked by and looked at Mahea. "Hey man, short dresses, they always work for me." He smirked.

Dylan smiled. "Yeah man, me too. What about you Seth?" He said, nudging Seth in his side, making him look away and blush.

Mahea turned to Shane who was walking around the room. "Would it be okay to wear this?" She asked. "It might be a little too short."

"Well, is it realistic to your scene?" He asked, she nodded. "Then it's up to you. You do want this to be as accurate as you can make it." He told her then continued walking around the room.

Dylan nodded his head. "He makes a good point. I say wear it." He commented then looked at Seth. "What about you Seth? Do you think Mahea should wear that short, yet beautiful dress?" He smirked.

"Sure." Seth said quietly, still blushing, making Dylan laugh.

Tuesday came too quickly, and all the groups were excited to present their skits to the class. The two groups with four students in it presented their scenes first then the four groups with three members went after them. Dylan, Seth and Mahea were assigned to go last. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time on Tuesday to have all the groups go, so the last two groups went on Wednesday.

"I think this dress is too short." Mahea said to Seth as the previous group walked off the stage.

He looked to her and smiled. "You look fine." He said, making her smile as well.

"Okay guys, now our last group is Dylan, Seth and Mahea." Shane announced as the class clapped their hands and watched the three juniors make their way onto the stage. Dylan and Mahea set up the tables according to their scene as Seth told the class about their plot, setting, and the characters. The three of them looked at each and mentally wished each other good luck then began their scene.

"Oh c'mon," Mahea said, gazing into Seth's eyes, even though he was looking past her. Mahea looked over to Dylan who nodded his head. "Just one cup of beer? We server the best in the town." Mahea said.

Seth kept staring past Mahea. "No thanks." He said in a monotone voice.

Mahea moved Seth's hand and sat on his lap, taking her hand and forcing him to turn towards her. "Please, just for me?" She asked sweetly, batting her eyelashes.

Seth couldn't help but feel that he really was in a 1940's movie, being the stubborn cop that had a young attractive waitress flaunting herself at him in a bar. Mahea kept looking at his face, never taking her eyes off him. Seth slowly lifted the corner of his lips.

"Maybe just one." He told her.

Mahea got up, her dress showing more leg than she wanted it to and casually pulled it down and smiled at Seth. "Comin' right up." She said, and walked to the far end of the stage.

Seth wasn't sure if this was in or out or character, but he followed Mahea with his eyes, watching her walk away in her black high heels and short cut red dress.

Their scene ended rather quickly, with the class applauding them. The rest of the class time was a free period, where everyone talked with one another about their scenes.

"That was really good you guys." Shane said to Seth and Mahea as they returned from changing. Their clothes

Mahea smiled. "Thanks." She said. "I hope I did okay. Being my first performance at this school."

Shane nodded. "You did great." He looked at Seth. "And you've still got your touch." He said, playfully punching Seth's shoulder.

"Thanks." Seth said, as he and Mahea then turned to go talk with their friends.

Shane announced that he'd be giving out the scripts to their upcoming production later that week. Everyone was excited to hear this news, since they all wanted to know what production Shane picked. Shane advised them to start thinking of a monologue they'd be willing to do for their audition on Friday.

After lunch on Thursday, Seth walked with Mahea to her next class. At this point, he still wasn't sure if they were officially going out or not, but he didn't want to bring up that topic at school, so he thought of something else to ask her.

"I wanted to know if you wouldn't mind hanging around school tomorrow afternoon." He said, fumbling with his backpack straps.

"Tomorrow?" She questioned.

Seth smiled. "Yeah, I have this project for my photography class, and I though I could take pictures…of you." He said, hoping she wouldn't find that weird.

Mahea nodded. "Sure." She smiled. "After school?" She asked.

Seth nodded. "Yeah." He said, relived she said yes.

Friday was a big day for those 20 students in theatre performance. They had all come to class prepared with their monologues, and ready to perform it in front of Shane. While one student was inside auditioning, the rest were to wait outside until they were called in. The monologues were to be from two to four minutes long, so that everyone would be able to get their audition in during class time. Shane took a little longer than he thought on deciding who would get what part that he had to keep the students after the bell rang to end school, but they didn't mind.

"So, first of all," Shane began. "You all did a wonderful job with your auditions." He smiled. "Give yourselves a hand." He said, as he joined in with his class and clapped his hand. "Now, I'm proud to present to you, our first production of the year," He said, as many students held their breaths. "_Hey, Teach_!" Shane smiled, holding up the script in his hand.

"What's that?" Reggie asked, as other students questioned it as well.

"Yeah, I've never heard of that." Keith added.

Shane smiled. "It's not a very well-known play. This play, _Hey, Teach_! is about a first year high school teacher. A news article goes into the school newspaper, complaining about the lunches, and this new teacher, Miss Douglas sides with the students. It's a very humorous and comical play with characters you'll all love." He said.

"Okay, sounds cool." Clarissa said as her classmates nodded their heads in agreement.

"Okay guys." Shane said, as everyone settled down. Shane then announced who will be playing what part in their upcoming production. Julie got the part of the teacher, Miss Audrey Douglas, Reggie was assigned the part of Jazz Martin, a student who couldn't help but stay on probation.

Shane smiled. "Seth." He called, making Seth jerk his head up. "You get the part of Jock Harden." He tossed Seth a copy of the script.

Seth nodded. "Okay." He replied, and started flipping through our book.

Shane passed out a few more scripts then turned to Mahea. "And Mahea, last but not least." He said, and picked up the last copy of the script. "You'll be playing Angel Thompson, the class heartthrob." He said, making other students turn towards him to listen. "Who all the girls wanna be, and all the guys wanna date." He chuckled and gave Mahea the script.

"Cool." She smiled, and looked at the cover of her script.

"Okay you guys, I kept you long enough. So start reading through your scripts, and we'll start getting into it next week." Shane said, then the students made their way out of the class.

Seth and Mahea gathered their things up and headed out of the class. "So, you excited?" Seth asked Mahea.

"Yeah, I mean, this play sounds really fun." She smiled. "Can you believe your part's a jock? Star basketball player!" She exclaimed.

Seth smiled, and shook his head. "No man, that's totally not me. So it'll be a challenge I guess." He looked at Mahea. "What about you? How do you feel about being the 'class heartthrob'?"

Mahea wrinkled her brow. "It'll be weird. I mean, playing a character that all the girls like, but don't like at the same time. And a character the guys are all after." She chuckled. "It's not me at all."

Seth smiled and looked at Mahea. "Are you sure? It seems a lot like you." Mahea looked at them, and they both shared that nice, sweet moment, staring into each others eyes.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Seth and Mahea walked up the stairs from the drama room and stopped in front of the auditorium.

"So, where do you wanna take your pictures?" Mahea asked Seth.

Seth took his camera out of the carry-case he had in his bag. "Um, we could start here." He said, and led Mahea into the auditorium. They both took their bags off and put them behind the last row of seats. "Uh, just, do whatever, I guess." He said, not sure what to have Mahea do. "I'll just follow you and take some pictures." He said.

"Okay." Mahea nodded and began walking down the isle.

She sat in a seat near the front of the auditorium and put her feet up on the seat in front of her. Seth moved around her and took some pictures. Sam then took her feet down and leaned forward, resting her hands on the seat in front. Seth stood right in front of Mahea and took a picture. Mahea walked around and walked onto the stage. She made poses, funny faces, making them both laugh. She pretended to dance across the floor, doing pirouettes, jetés, and battements.

Seth smiled. "Where'd you learn to do that?" He asked as Mahea danced across the floor.

"I've been dancing since I was eight." She told him. Seth nodded and continued taking pictures of her.

After they left the auditorium, they wandered around the school campus. Mahea sat on benches outside of the building, slid down railings, skipped across the field, ran up and down the bleachers, sat on staircases, and occasionally just looked up to the sky, looking deep in thought.

"Wow, we used three different rolls." Seth said, looking at his camera.

Mahea smiled. "Cool." She said. "I had fun, who knew running around school aimlessly could be fun?" She chuckled.

"Do you want me to walk you home?" Seth asked.

"Oh you don't have to." Mahea replied.

Seth smiled. "But I want to." He said, and they started walking towards Mahea's house.

On their way to her house, they talked about their parts in _Hey, Teach_! Seth was still surprised he got the part of the jock, but if Shane thought he'd do a good job at it, then he was okay with it. Mahea and Seth agreed to meet at Tony's the next morning along with Reggie, Dylan and Clarissa to go over the script.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Mahea said once she reached her door.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." Seth replied, smiling.

Mahea opened her door and walked inside. "Bye." She said, and closed the door behind her.

Seth got home just in time for dinner. He quickly ran up to his room to throw his bag down on his bed, and went back downstairs and into the kitchen. Lulu and Peter were finishing setting up the table, and Julie getting Tyler settled in his seat.

A few minutes into dinner, Zoe came walking in. "Sorry guys." She said, and took her seat. "I was talking to Hailey and Faith." She said.

Julie looked at Zoe. "For more than three hours?" She asked.

Zoe shrugged. "So I lost track of time. Sorry." She replied.

"Well? What was so important you spent hours talking to them?" Julie asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

Zoe fidgeted in her seat. "Oh, nothing you'd want to know about." She said, looking at her mom, seeing a stern face. "Uh, well, you know…" She smiled.

Lulu giggled. "She was talking about boys." She smiled.

"Oh! Zoe!" Julie exclaimed.

"What?" Zoe said. "It's not like it's some kind of crime." She said, sounding offended. Hoping to change the subject, she looked to Lulu. "So, how was your day?"

Lulu looked at Zoe and her mom, wondering if it was okay to answer, and Julie nodded, dismissing Zoe's tardiness and irresponsibility. "Um, it was okay." She said. "Tomorrow I have to go to school to work on our first dance of the year." Lulu said happily, her eyes beaming. "I'm hoping I do okay."

"Oh you'll do fine honey!" Julie smiled.

Seth nodded. "Yeah, I mean what's so hard about throwing around some streamers and balloons around the gym?" He chuckled.

"It's harder than that. It's not like you've ever been to one." Zoe scoffed. "I helped out Hailey a couple of times, and it takes a lot of time to get all the plans ready for a school dance." She said, confident in what she was talking about.

"I have too been to one." Seth told her. "I didn't stay for the whole time, it was getting boring."

"Well, you better stay for the dances this year, I mean, especially if Mahea goes to them." She smirked.

Julie looked at Zoe, giving her a look that meant to stop teasing Seth. "What about you Seth? You said Shane was going to give you guys this years production."

Seth nodded. "Yeah, this year we're doing a play called _Hey, Teach_!."

Peter scrunched his face up. "What's that about?" He asked.

"Shane told us it's about this new teacher who has to deal with all these students, then sides with them when they fight against the school to have better lunches." He explained. "I read through my part, it's okay."

Julie smiled. "Oh, what part do you have?" She asked excitedly.

"Well, my character's name is Jock Harden." Seth said.

Zoe almost spit out her water. "Jock? You're playing a guy named Jock?" She asked, starting to laugh.

Seth glared at his sister. "Yes, my name's Jock. And I happen to be one, he's supposed to be a basketball star." He explained.

Julie nodded. "Well, you are athletic, you used to do sports. Wrestling, and track and baseball before that…" She said.

"I guess. Well, that's all I read about my part." Seth said. "I'm gonna go down to Tony's tomorrow to meet the guys, so we can go over the script." He told his mom.

"Okay." Julie said. "I can take you down after I drop Lulu off."

"Bye Lulu!" Julie called from the car. "I'll pick you up in at three!" Seth waved goodbye as Lulu returned the wave, then walked into the school building.

"So, you excited about the play?" Julie asked Seth.

Seth nodded. "Mmhmm. It should be fun. It's filled with comedy." He said, smiling. "I think it'll be great."

"I'll walk home." Seth said, stepping out of the van. He already saw Mahea, Reggie and Clarissa sitting inside of Tony's.

"Are you sure?" Julie asked.

Seth nodded. "I'm sure. Bye mom." He said, and turned around to walk inside.

A few minutes after Seth arrived, Dylan showed up, and they all ordered drinks around the table. They read through the play once, all of them taking characters to read for. Once they read through the play, they ordered some pizza for lunch, since it took them a while to read it with all the laughing that went on.

"So, even though I don't have the lead or anything," Reggie said in between eating his pizza. "I think it'll be a good show." He joked.

Mahea laughed. "Yeah Reggie, we don't know what Shane was thinking! Not giving you the lead!"

Clarissa nodded. "I don't know what Shane was thinking, not making you the lead!" She teased as everyone joined in with the laughter.

"Haha, very funny." Reggie said, but ended up laughing as well.

They finished up their lunch, and talked a little more about the play. Clarissa, Reggie and Dylan left together, they were going to go to the movies. Seth had asked Mahea when he got to Tony's if she was willing to go to the park to take more pictures, and she agreed.

"Bye guys." Mahea waved to Reggie, Dylan and Clarissa when they walked out of Tony's. She turned to Seth. "So, which park are we going to? I haven't really been to any since I got here." She said.

Seth smiled. "I'm not sure yet. I guess we'll know when we get there." They headed off to find the nearest park, and hopefully Seth would catch some good shots of Mahea.

Meanwhile, Lulu was making good progress with her student council meeting. She thought it'd be really hard to get everyone to work and to come up with ideas, but she realized what a good council she had.

"Okay guys, I think we can finish all this today, and maybe do some at our weekly meeting." Lulu said as her classmates worked diligently.

Some students were busy calling for DJ's and a live band to play at the dance. Others were working on pricing decorations, making a list of teachers who could chaperone and other details for the dance that needed planning.

"I think it's going pretty well." Lulu heard someone say something behind her. She turned around and saw her classmate, Danny.

"Thanks." She replied. Lulu had only noticed now that Danny had nice green eyes that seemed to go well with his light brown hair.

"I'm glad you made it as President." He told her. "It would've been worse if Clark won. I like having you as President." He smiled.

Lulu blushed, hoping he didn't notice. "Thanks Danny." She said. They stood there, smiling at each other for a few seconds until Lulu's friend, Lacie walked up to them.

"Hey guys!" She said loudly, making them look at her. "What's up?" She smiled.

Danny smiled. "Nothing much. I better get back to my work." He said, then smiled at Lulu and walked away.

Lacie grinned at Lulu who was watching Danny walk away. "So, what was that all about?"

"What?" Lulu asked. "We were just talking." She replied.

"Mmhmm." Lacie said skeptically. "He was just complimenting you, nothing special about it?"

Lulu tilted her head to the side and thought about it. "Well, I guess Danny's kinda cool. He's cute too." She smiled. Lacie and Lulu turned to Danny, who was looking at Lulu. He waved to her from his seat across the room, and Lulu gave him a small wave as well.

"I think a new relationship is in bloom." Lacie beamed at Lulu.

Lulu turned to Lacie. "You think?" She asked. Lacie smiled and chuckled softly.

"C'mon Juliet. We've still got a lot of work to do before you can run off with Romeo." She joked, putting her arm around Lulu's as they both walked off to their seats.

"How about that bench?" Seth suggested, pointing to an open bench under a tree.

"Okay." Mahea agreed and they both walked over to the bench. She took her small messenger bag off her shoulder and put it on the grass. "Click away." She smiled, and sat on the bench.

Seth chuckled. "Okay." He said, and took the lens off the camera, then adjusted it and focused in on Mahea.

"Oh wait!" Mahea suddenly gasped, making Seth lower his camera.

Mahea leaned over to her bag on the grass, opening up the zipper. Seth watched Mahea reach into her bag and pull out the grey beanie he let her keep. He watched her put the beanie on her head, the rim of it off-centered.

"There, now I'm ready." She smiled at him.

Seth smiled back, and began taking different shots of Mahea from several angles. They moved around the park, taking different shots of Mahea running on the grass, doing cartwheels, even one after she climbed up into a tree. Seth and Mahea wondered around the park, looking at the different families and people. Seth took shots of an elderly couple walking together holding hands. He also took several shots of children playing on the jungle gym, then took a few pictures of Mahea swinging on a swing set. Seth had Mahea lean up against a tree and took several pictures of her.

"Wow." He said to himself. He looked at Mahea and smiled. Her hair fell nicely under his beanie, the way the wind blew several strands of her hair to one side, and the shadows on her body from the sunlight shinning through the leaves made Seth's stomach do the Mexican hat dance. He stared at her, noticing how beautiful she looked at that moment.

Mahea noticed Seth looking at her. "What?" She asked, smiling.

"Nothing." Seth said softly, then he continued to take pictures of Mahea.

"I guess I'll see you on Monday." Danny said, walking with Lulu out into the parking lot.

Lulu nodded. "Yeah, I guess so." She replied.

They stood there for a few moments, not saying anything. "Oh, there's my mom." Lulu said, looking over her shoulder. "Bye." She smiled.

Danny returned her smile. "See ya." He said.

"Hi honey." Julie said as Lulu got in the car. "How was it?" She asked.

Lulu put on her seatbelt. "It was really good. We got a lot done."

Julie smiled. "That's great honey. Who was that boy you were talking to?" She questioned.

Lulu looked out her window and saw Danny walking towards a car that just pulled into the parking lot. "Oh, that's Danny. He's our council treasurer."

"Oh." Julie said, noticing Lulu stare at Danny.

Lulu turned to see her mom smiling at her. "What?" She asked.

"Nothing." Julie said quickly, still smiling.

"Mom!" Lulu exclaimed, making Julie laugh.

"I'll see you on Monday then." Mahea said as she walked up to her front door.

Seth nodded. "Yeah, I'll see you on Monday." He said. "Oh, and don't forget to study your lines." He reminded her.

"Of course not." She smiled. Mahea leaned into Seth, about to kiss him, when the rim of the beanie hit his head, making them both smile. "Oh." Mahea said, chuckling to herself, and pulled the rim to the back. They smiled at each other, then leaned into one another and kissed.

"Bye." Mahea smiled.

"Bye." Seth replied and Mahea went into his house.

Seth was stunned. They had kissed three times already, but they still weren't 'going out', as far as he knew. He thought about what he'd have to do to ask Mahea to be his girlfriend on his walk home. He figured she liked him just as much, so it wouldn't be as hard as it could be. He spent the rest of the night thinking about their day they spent together, and remembering that moment when he saw Mahea as completely beautiful.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Seth was excited to get to his photography class on Monday so he could develop his photos he took over the weekend. The whole day he was anxious to make it to his fourth period class to get into the dark room.

"Hey Mahea." Seth walked up to Mahea as she entered the cafeteria.

"Hi Seth." Mahea smiled. They got in the lunch line together then walked over to their table.

"So," Seth began as they made their way across the room. "I got into the dark room, and developed some of the pictures I took this weekend." He told her.

Mahea looked back at him. "Cool, did they turn out okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, they're great." He replied. "So, maybe after school, do you wanna look at them?" He asked. "They'll be ready by then."

"Sure, I'd love to." Mahea answered. "How about at the bleachers?" She suggested.

Seth nodded his head. "Okay."

After lunch, Mahea quickly stopped off at Claire's office to go and talk with her. Thankfully, both she and Shane were there in her office. When she left Claire's office, she thought she saw someone walking in the halls, even though fifth period had already started. She walked down the hall and turned the corner to see a boy quietly making his way down the halls. She thought it was Damien, so she decided to follow him and see what he was up to. She stopped around the corner when she saw him pulling some kind of gadget out of his locker. Mahea quickly raced to her fifth period class, not sure of what she saw.

"I'll go get the pictures." Seth said, walking past the auditorium with Mahea.

"Okay, I'm just going to my locker, I'll meet you on the field in a few minutes." She said, and they both went on their separate ways.

Damien walked up to Mahea by her locker. "Hey Mahea." He smiled.

She turned and looked at him. "Oh, hi Damien." She said, shoving a binder into the remaining space in her locker. "What's up?" She asked.

"Oh, nothing really." He said, then hesitated to say more. "Well, you know how I asked if you'd wanna do something after school sometime?" He asked.

Mahea nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, do you wanna go and grab a bite to eat right now?" He asked.

"Right now?" Mahea asked, then saw Damien nod his head. She remembered how she told Seth she'd meet him at the bleachers, and she didn't want to just not show up.

"Um…" She said, thinking of an answer, when she saw something blinking a bright red from Damien's pocket, and remembered seeing him in the hall earlier that day. "Yeah, I'd love to." She said, then closed her locker.

Damien smiled. "Great, uh, I just have to go my locker first." He told her, and led her to his locker.

Seth was excited to show Mahea his pictures and quickly got them together in the dark room, then raced back to the bleachers to wait for Mahea. It had been 10 minutes since he saw Mahea walking off to her locker, and wondered where she went. He finally got up and made his way towards the school building.

He walked across the field and towards the entrance of the school. When he turned the corner he saw Mahea and Damien walking together in the opposite direction. He stood there, staring at the two of them walking away. He felt as though his heart had just dropped to his feet. He couldn't believe that Mahea was going somewhere with Damien after she said she'd meet him.

"Great." He mumbled, holding up his portfolio with his pictures in them. He opened it and took out the picture he took of Mahea underneath the tree on Saturday and stared at it. He looked up to see them gone, he then found himself standing all alone on that Monday afternoon.

Mahea found herself laughing with Damien in between eating her hot dog and drinking her milkshake. She and Damien were sitting in a courtyard at the town center having a light snack to eat. Even though Mahea was having an okay time with Damien, she couldn't forget how she left Seth there at school.

"So." Damien said, taking a sip from his soda. "Why'd you decide to come with me today?" He asked, looking straight at Mahea.

Mahea almost chocked on her hotdog. "Umm." She started, thinking of something to say. "I dunno. It was a spur of the moment kind of thing I guess." She smiled.

Damien smiled. "Spur of the moment, I like that." He said.

Seth took his time to get home, thinking about what happened at school. He wasn't sure if he had done something wrong, or said something to upset Mahea. When he got home, everyone was surprised to see him back so early.

"I thought you were gonna show Mahea your pictures?" Zoe asked him as he slowly walked up to his room.

"Not anymore." He said softly, not looking at anyone.

Julie stood up and started for the stairs. "Seth, is anything wrong?" She asked, very concerned.

Seth, still not looking at anyone, continued up the stairs. "No, I'm fine." He lied, and went to his room and closed his door quietly.

Zoe and Julie looked at each other with confusion. "I'll go see what's up." Zoe said, and raced up stairs.

"She'll either find out what's bugging him, or she'll make it worse." Lulu commented.

Zoe knocked on Seth's door and slowly opened it. She looked in his room and saw him lying on his bed, looking up at the ceiling. She quietly made her way to his bed and stood in front of him, barely getting a reaction from Seth.

"What's up?" She asked. Seth didn't answer, but kept looking at the ceiling.

Zoe looked around the room and saw his portfolio on his desk, along with many other books and papers stacked on it. She took the portfolio and looked inside to find the picture of Mahea he was planning on showing her.

"Is this the picture?" She asked, and saw him slightly nod his head. "Wow." She replied, looking at the picture for several moments. "What happened?" She turned to him.

Seth slowly sat up on his bed, still not looking at her. "I'm not sure. I don't know what happened." He said, shaking his head. He continued, before Zoe could say anything. "So if and when I find out what happened, I'll let you know." He said, and finally took a glance towards Zoe.

Zoe nodded her head and put the picture and portfolio back onto his desk. "Okay." She replied, and slipped out of his room, closing the door behind her. Leaving Seth alone once again.

Seth decided not to call Mahea that night to ask her what happened. He still wasn't sure what he'd ask or say. So he waited until the next day. Once he got to school, he still hadn't come up with an idea of what to say to her, so he skipped on meeting his friends before homeroom, and went straight to his class. Even though Seth got out of two opportunities he couldn't talked with Mahea, he know he couldn't avoid her in physics. He anxiously and nervously waited to see her come in the room, and a minute or two before the bell rang, she walked in.

"Hi Seth." She said uncomfortably, taking her seat next to him.

Seth turned to her. "Hi."

Mahea cleared her throat. "Look, I'm sorry about yesterday. About not meeting you to look at the pictures." She said. "I just…forgot I had other plans." She fibbed.

Seth stared at her. "Other plans?" He asked.

"Yeah. I had to go someplace." She replied, fiddling with her notebook in front of her.

"With Damien." Seth said, making Mahea shift in her seat.

"You knew about that?" She asked, unsure of how he would know.

Seth nodded. "Yeah. I saw you guys leaving school together." He told her.

Mahea lowered her head, truly feeling sorry. "Oh." She replied. "Seth, I'm sorry. I really am." She told him, hoping he'd believe her. But before Mahea could get a reply, the bell rang and Mrs. Parker immediately began class.

During their theatre class, Seth seemed to be okay with what happened with Mahea the day before. Since they already were practicing reading their lines for their production, Seth and Mahea had to work together. It looked as if everything was fine between Mahea and Seth in class, so Seth decided to see if Mahea could look at his picture after class, but to Seth's disappointment, it didn't go as he planned.

"I'm sorry Seth." Mahea said, already feeling bad. "I told Damien we'd go to the library to work on our English projects." She said.

"You're both in the same class?" Seth asked.

Mahea shook her head. "No, but we have the same assignment." She said, seeing the disappointment in Seth's eyes. "I'm really sorry Seth. If you asked me before lunch, I would've said yes. But maybe some other time." She said.

The bell rang and Seth found himself once again alone after school, knowing that Mahea was spending time with Damien instead of him.


End file.
